Farrelly brothers look past Hall Pass’ and gear up for Sox, Stooges

Friday

Feb 25, 2011 at 12:01 AMFeb 25, 2011 at 6:11 PM

When you first meet Peter and Bobby Farrelly, what strikes you is just how normal the native Rhode Islanders are when separated from their bag of scatological tricks. I try repeatedly to get them to say something as outrageous as the scene in their latest movie, “Hall Pass,” in which a young woman spews diarrhea across a bathroom wall. But their answers are as pinched as Ben Stiller’s manhood in “There’s Something About Mary.”

Al Alexander

When you first meet Peter and Bobby Farrelly, what strikes you is just how normal the native Rhode Islanders are when separated from their bag of scatological tricks. I try repeatedly to get them to say something as outrageous as the scene in their latest movie, “Hall Pass,” in which a young woman spews diarrhea across a bathroom wall. But their answers are as pinched as Ben Stiller’s manhood in “There’s Something About Mary.”

Only when our chat turns to the Red Sox, and their next movie, the long, long, long delayed tribute to the Three Stooges, do the stoic brothers show anything approaching enthusiasm. But then, those are their twin passions, and the prospects couldn’t be brighter for each, with the Red Sox an odds-on favorite to make it to the World Series, and the Stooges movie scheduled to begin shooting in April.

First, though, they have to suffer through something they clearly don’t enjoy: a nationwide press tour in support of “Hall Pass,” their first movie since their remake of “The Heartbreak Kid” in 2007. It was the first major flop of their careers, making it all the more critical that “Hall Pass” be a box-office smash.

If, by chance, it doesn’t succeed, it won’t be for a lack of trying. The cast is an embarrassment of comedic riches, led by Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate playing a pair of married couples in the mode of a modernized version of “The Honeymooners.” The movie’s title comes from the wives agreeing to give their horny hubbys a week off from marriage so they can chase the hot babes they’ve been not-so-stealthily ogling from the corners of their eyes. Things, of course, don’t go quite like the boys think, leading to many an outrageous situation.

“We thought it was a good idea for a movie,” said Bobby Farrelly, the younger of the two siblings. “I’m not sure it would work in real life. We’d all take a hall pass, as long as our wives didn’t get one, too. That’s the deal-breaker, though. It’s a little too easy for the gals out there (to have an affair). We’d have to work at it.

“In the story, the guys get the week off,” added Bobby, who proudly notes that he’s been hitched to the same woman for 20 years. “You know it’s going to go bad for them, but when they come back at the end of the week, I think their marriages are stronger than ever. That’s the good news.”

Asked if he’d ever been offered a hall pass, Bobby laughs nervously before lamenting, “The only way I’d get a hall pass is if my wife gave me a permanent hall pass.”

Originally, the movie, written by the brothers and two others, including “Project Greenlight” winner Pete Jones, focused entirely on the men, but a rewrite was necessitated when they showed the script to their spouses.

“My wife read it and said it ‘sucked,’” Peter said, adding that she went on to say, “If you get a hall pass, I get a hall pass.” “That’s when we realized we weren’t being true to the women,” Peter said. “From that point forward we wrote it fairly.”

The brothers said their talented cast, which also includes Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins, the hilarious J.B. Smoove from “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and Ricky Gervais’ writing and creative partner, Stephen Merchant, also contributed some valuable improvisations. The brothers also weren’t above fielding suggestions from Wilson, a talented writer in his own right via his collaborations with Wes Anderson.

The biggest contributions, they said, came not from any of the people above, but from the little-known Sudeikis, a “Saturday Night Live” regular moving up into the big leagues with his first starring role.

“We had no idea how funny Jason Sudeikis was,” Peter said. “I think he’s the second coming of Jack Lemmon. He’s anachronistic; I felt like he came out of the ’50s or ’60s. He’s really hysterical. ... Overall, I think this was the best cast we’ve ever had.”

Or, at least until they’re finished casting the Stooges picture, which they explained will consist of three 27-minute original episodes the brothers wrote in the true spirit of the polarizing comedy trio.

“We wrote all new material, but the Stooges will look the same, talk the same and act the same. There will even be the same sound effects. Just new plots,” Peter said. “We’re going to be true to the Stooges; we’re not going to try to do an interpretation, or do the Farrelly brothers type of humor.”

Shooting begins April 18, but at the moment, Peter said, they don’t have a cast in place. When the script was written more than a decade ago, Sean Penn, Jim Carrey and Benicio Del Toro were attached to star, but a combination of delays and Penn’s involvement in helping Haitian earthquake victims have left the brothers starting from scratch.

In fact, during their interview sessions last Friday, Peter was continually fielding calls from casting directors.

“We’re looking at a lot of people, and waiting to hear from a few others who have not read the script yet,” Peter said. “So, we don’t want to make our minds up until we’ve seen everybody.”

When asked why the script has been in turnaround for so long, Peter sighed and said, “That’s a real head-scratcher. The studios were reluctant to do it. The odd thing is that they thought there wasn’t enough interest in the Stooges. But we’ve never had more interest in any movie we’ve done. We get asked more about that than anything.”

Added Bobby, “I think the people at the studios think the Stooges are for guys only; that girls won’t be interested in it. But from our experience, there’s a lot of interest from the girls, too. Also, the studios didn’t know if it was something that would sell overseas, if it had a foreign market. But people from all over the world are always asking us about the Stooges, so … I think they (the studios) are wrong … but, we’ll see.”

“The most important thing is to do it right. We love the Stooges and want to do them proud,” Peter asserted.

No such problem with the Red Sox, whom they did more than proud with their rapturous 2005 rom-com, “Fever Pitch,” in which the Sox’s memorable run to the World Series title in 2004 served as a backdrop to a growing love between Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon.

“I’m glad the Curse of Bambino ended when it did,” Peter said. “It would have sucked if somehow we interfered with that run. We were always afraid that somehow or another filming during the games was going to mess things up. It was a great relief when we didn’t.

“It was an honor to film them during such a magical time … and to have the access we had to Fenway Park and to the players. It was probably the funnest thing we ever did. But it was challenging, though, because the movie wasn’t supposed to be about them winning. It was about a guy loving them even though they consistently broke his heart. So we had to change the story on the fly.”

The boys think this season could be just as magical, and Bobby, who lives in Duxbury, and Peter, who summers on Martha’s Vineyard, plan to either be in attendance at Fenway or glued to the tube once they’ve finished shooting the Stooges.

“Boston is the greatest town for baseball,” Bobby said with a wide grin. “Watching those Red Sox during the summer is such a joy. Everybody in town has a vested interest in the outcome. It’s not like that anywhere else. Boston really is a remarkable sports town. Better than any other sports town I know.”